Friday, May 1, 2009

Hmmm... seems like we may not be far from a new Inquisition based on the new poll from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life:More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

As Andrew Sullivan says:So Christian devotion correlates with approval for absolute evil in America. And people wonder why atheism is gaining in this country.

So who wants to debate that religious folks are more ethical, or have higher morals than non-Believers?

Side note: It seems there are only a handful of sane people in the media speaking responsibly, and more importantly, substantively, on this matter of torture. The most notable are Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Greenwald, Keith Olbermann, Dan Froomkin, and Joan Walsh. I haven't heard where Rachel Maddow actually lands on the subject, but she seems at least to be taking an objective position. I'd like to see her as fired up about this as she was when Sen. Burr was blocking Duckworths' nomination to Dept. of Veterans Affairs.

It is a sad state that there are so few voices fighting for values we thought all Americans once held dear, enough that Reagan would sign a treaty declaring it so.

Hmmm... seems like we may not be far from a new Inquisition based on the new poll from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life:More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

As Andrew Sullivan says:So Christian devotion correlates with approval for absolute evil in America. And people wonder why atheism is gaining in this country.

So who wants to debate that religious folks are more ethical, or have higher morals than non-Believers?

Side note: It seems there are only a handful of sane people in the media speaking responsibly, and more importantly, substantively, on this matter of torture. The most notable are Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Greenwald, Keith Olbermann, Dan Froomkin, and Joan Walsh. I haven't heard where Rachel Maddow actually lands on the subject, but she seems at least to be taking an objective position. I'd like to see her as fired up about this as she was when Sen. Burr was blocking Duckworths' nomination to Dept. of Veterans Affairs.

It is a sad state that there are so few voices fighting for values we thought all Americans once held dear, enough that Reagan would sign a treaty declaring it so.